Ethel I Emrestrun
Ethel Emrestrun was the nineteenth monarch of Daravia. She was known for the rise of the Long Winter during her reign, leading to her deposition. Early life Through no fault of her own, Ethel was disliked from a young age by the Daravian people, who were upset that Daravian succession laws put her in front of all three of her brothers. This was not helped by the fact that she grew up to be rather plain in appearance. Despite the public animosity, Ethel still sought to be a respectable figure, challenging gender norms by attending the prestigious University of Deobald. Although skepticism still existed about her, Ethel's popularity did increase in the wake of her university education, and it was commonly felt that she would prove to be a good queen. Adulthood In the 360s and 370s, while her father Armand was mainly at war, Ethel was granted some economic and diplomatic responsibilities; as "castellana" of the Grand Castle, Ethel actually enjoyed her highest level of popularity, and through cooperation with parliament leaders was able to accomplish feats such as bringing the tragpulver, a Hecrivastin gunpowder weapon, to Daravia in the late 370s. (This, unfortunately, was too late for the tragpulverze to turn the tide of the Cadral independence war.) In the 380s, Ethel's governmental role decreased as Armand II returned to internal ruling, and Ethel instead took up travel as a hobby. Reign In 388, Ethel assumed the throne, and was quick to set about trying to advance women's rights in Daravia; however, her motions were mostly blocked by Council Premier Desmond Fronar, a traditionalist from a minor noble family with somewhat of an inflated self-opinion. This would prove to be a pattern throughout Ethel's embattled reign, but still optimistic, Ethel decided to try other measures. Desmond continued to block Ethel's various measures, whatever his opinion of them, and even went as far as to plagiarize bills he approved of and submit them as his own. Ethel retaliated by decreeing that laws would need direct royal approval to be implemented, overriding a system in which large enough parliamentary majorities could overrule the royal opinion. This led to wide criticism of Ethel, leading her to capitulate and reinstitute the traditional system in 392, after the reelection of Quenton Claycliff. Since Quenton was more ideologically aligned with Ethel, she managed to get some bills through parliament during this period, although her feminist measures were largely rejected by the council. Ethel's reign would reach its darkest point in the winter of 395. Brutally low temperatures and inclement weather barraged Tundria and northern Alarea during a long, brutal winter, and even after the snow melted, bad weather and poor crops persisted, ushering in the Long Winter. In the ensuing months, the death toll climbed as starvation spread, and muttering existed that the gods were punishing Daravia for its repeated granting of power to queens. This culminated in a 397 peasant uprising that demanded Ethel's abdication in favor of her son, Gerald. Ethel gave in to the demand, passed the throne to Gerald, and retired to Icecliff, where she lived out her days until dying in 399 of complications from pneumonia. Personal life Always politically minded, Ethel married Edmund Orendras in 362 in a bid to bring more money into the Emrestrun family. The two were somewhat close, but not terribly, and as a result they were rather perfunctory about their marriage; they had two children in the 360s, and then decided not to have any more so as to minimize the risk of death via childbirth. Since Ethel was busy during her children's youngest years, she used wet nurses and tutors to keep the children entertained and educated. Category:Daravians Category:Emrestrun Family Category:Monarchs